Dear Colleague on Urging Federal Reserve to Include Nonprofits and Universities in CARES Act Lending Facilities

Dear Democratic Colleague,

As part of the bipartisan CARES Act that Democrats transformed from a corporate trickle-down plan to a bubble-up, workers-first bill, the Federal Reserve recently announced its new "Main Street" lending facility. This facility will support up to $600 billion in bank lending to small and mid-sized businesses, including two lending options: new loans of $1 million to $25 million, or expansion of a business's existing loan with a bank to up to $150 million. Unfortunately, the Administration and the Fed, as of today, are excluding nonprofits, many institutions of higher learning and Minority-Serving Institutions. This is a significant blow in particular to entities that are also ineligible for the Paycheck Protection Program.

The Federal Reserve is currently soliciting input about potential eligibility changes to this initiative. I urge you to lift up this issue and encourage nonprofits and universities in your district to make their voices heard by submitting feedback to the Federal Reserve through its online resource, which can be accessed through this link. We must move quickly, because submissions will be accepted only until this upcoming Thursday, April 16.

As Democrats work to make the Main Street facility more inclusive, we continue to fight for an interim emergency response package followed by a CARES 2 package that will deliver more desperately-needed resources to all suffering from the crisis. We cannot accept Leader McConnell's proposals that would only perpetuate the flaws that are threatening the survival of the most vulnerable small businesses and would do nothing to aid desperate hospitals and state and local governments.

I look forward to discussing next steps with you on our next Caucus Conference Call on Thursday, April 16, at 2:00 PM E.T.

Thank you for your continued leadership during this challenging and somber time.

best regards,